Screen

The Touch features a colorful, sharp screen with 65K colors and resolution of 240 x 320 px. The LCD measures 2.8-inches diagonally, and what really sets this screen apart is the TouchFLO technology that allows users to navigate by tapping and swiping their fingers across the screen.

As mentioned earlier, users can access the Touch's special interface, Touch Cube, by using this touch screen technology. After using the touch screen for a short time, it becomes intuitive and is easy to use.

Relative to other LCDs, the Touch's 65K-color screen is mediocre, with many video-focused devices delivering 262K- to 16.7 million-colors. Built from TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD technology, the Touch offers brighter imagery and faster response rates over older STN (Super Twisted Nematic) screens.

While the Touch's screen is better than most handhelds on the market, it fails to measure up to the iPhone's 3.5-inch 320 x 480 px display. Apple doesn't disclose the iPhone's screen colors.

Audio

Audio quality on the Touch is limited, but then music does not seem to be the focus of this smartphone. The volume produced by the small speaker on the back of the phone is low, and the phone tends to have a tinny, one-dimensional sound.

There are plenty of options to access media with the Touch from Sprint. Users have access to the Sprint Music Store and can play songs and other audio with the Windows Media Player. Through the Sprint Music Store, users have access to more than 1.8 million songs which they can download wirelessly direct to the phone. The Touch can also stream more than a dozen radio stations, among them Sprint Radio and Sirius.

Messaging

The Touch allows users to access email from POP3, IMAP4, SMTP and Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. Users of the Touch can use Direct Push to receive email the instant it arrives in their inboxes on the Exchange Server.

The Touch also comes with instant messaging through AIM, Yahoo! and Windows Live. Instant messaging can be accessed from the home screen, by touching the letter icon on the left side of the screen.

One of the main difficulties with the Touch is the size of keypads. Users could be forced to navigate with the stylus if they want to use the tiny touch screen buttons. The problem becomes more apparent once users move past the main Touch Cube interface. Fortunately, the Touch allows users to choose a QWERTY keypad which does make typing easier. Like the iPhone, the virtual keyboard offers easier text entry. Designed to be used with the fingers, the stylus-designed entry method is rather cumbersome to use with fingers.

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